Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto Had Special Dinner With Roki Sasaki to Recruit Him to Dodgers

Having dinner with former teammates wasn’t new for Roki Sasaki, but this particular evening was different.

In December, Sasaki sat down for sushi with former Samurai Japan teammates Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The dinner came shortly after his initial meeting with the Dodgers and marked the early stages of the 23-year-old’s transition to Major League Baseball.

While the specifics of their conversation remain unknown, multiple people familiar with the situation have described the dinner as pivotal in a conversation with the LA Times.

“They wanted him to know how much they were looking forward to having him join them. They wanted him to hear the message,” said one source of the LA Times. “The players caring that much, I think that was meaningful to him. He didn’t have to worry about how he would be perceived. He would be perceived as great. And they all wanted him here.”

Initially, Sasaki had requested that players not be involved in the recruitment process. His agent, Joel Wolfe, instructed teams that active players should not attend the first round of meetings, ensuring an even playing field. Instead, teams were tasked with crafting presentations to address why they believed Sasaki’s fastball velocity had dipped in Japan last season.

“It was a great opportunity for the teams to really show what they specialize in,” Wolfe told reporters in December. “It enabled them to show how they can analyze and communicate information with him, and really showed where he was coming from in analyzing and creating his selection criteria in looking at different teams.”

The Dodgers stood out with their detailed presentation, earning themselves another in-person meeting. This time, Ohtani and other teammates joined Sasaki at the table, delivering personal pitches to convince him to choose Los Angeles over the other finalists.

“Shohei and Yoshi were very helpful, very influential, very involved with him on a personal level,” said another source of the LA Times.

Just 72 hours after that dinner, Sasaki announced he would be joining the Dodgers. Much of the credit has been attributed to Ohtani and Yamamoto.

“You can tell that he’ll love being around Yoshi and Shohei,” Mookie Betts told reporters in Tokyo during a promotional tour, according to the Associated Press. “I think that will really help him a lot.”